thy being Eternally under the Torments of Hell this is that which makes thee truly miserable And on the other hand it is not thy being in Heaven comparatively that will make thee Happy but it is thy being Eternally there that makes thee truly Happy This this is that which Accents thy Misery or thy Happiness even the Eternity of it Oh Eternity Eternity thou art the bitterest and thou art the sweetest word in all the World to the Damned thou art the bitterest of all words because their Torments are to last to all Eternity And to the Godly thou art the sweetest word in all the World for their Joys and Happiness shall last unto all Eternity There is nothing either in Heaven or in Hell but what speaks Eternity There is nothing in Hell but what is Eternal Hell it self that place of Torment is Eternal The Sufferings and Torments of the Damned in Hell are Eternal The Wrath and Vengeance of God that is the cause of those Torments in Eternal Yea all the Damned themselves together with the Devil and his Angels are all to be sufferers under an Eternity of Torments in Hell O Eternity Eternity how miserable beyond all expression dost thou make the condition of the Damned to be And as there is nothing in Hell but what is Eternal so neither is there any thing in Heaven but what speaks Eternity There is the Great and Blessed God the Father of Eternity the Sum and Heighth of the Saints Happiness in Heaven to be Eternally enjoyed It is there that the Lord Jesus Christ the Saints great and blessed Redeemer is whose Meritorious Death and Sufferings hath Deserved and Obtained for them the Eternal Enjoyment of that Happiness which there they are partakers of Heaven that place of Bliss and Happiness where God manifests and displays all his Glorious Excellencies and Perfections is Eternal The blessed Company and Society of a Saint in Heaven the innumerable Company of Glorified Saints and Angels shall Eternally be their fellow Inhabitants in that Holy place Yea both the Happiness of Heaven and every Saint that shall participate of that Happiness shall both continue in conjunction together Everlastingly Here O my Soul is a Happiness most worthy of all thy thoughts a Happiness so great that it calls for and deserves all thy Time all thy Parts yea all the Labour and Pains thou canst possibly lay out for the obtaining of it O Eternity Eternity how pleasant how delightful a word art thou for Holy Souls to contemplate upon thou art not more full of dread and horror to the wicked in Hell than thou art full of pleasure and delight unto the Saints in Heaven thou art the Sweetness the Consummation the Perfection of a Saint's Happiness God himself who is the All of a Saint's Happiness if he be not enjoyed for ever cannot make a Saint always Happy Unless an Eternity of Enjoyment be added to a Saint's Happiness in Heaven he cannot be fully and compleatly Happy It is true whilst he enjoys the Happiness of Heaven he is in a Happy state but if Eternity be not added to that Enjoyment a time will come when that Happiness shall cease and have an end Take away Eternity from a Saint's Happiness and there not only will but there must come a time when a Saint must be miserable O Eternity Eternity thou art not only a Happiness added to a Saint's Happiness in Heaven but thou art that blessed Band that unitest and tiest all the scattered parcels of a Saint's Happiness together in one bundle for his satisfaction and security for ever O my Soul study this word Eternity well as it is the Crowning addition unto the Saints Happiness It is that which will revive and quicken thee yea it is that which will put a new life into thee in thy greatest Agonies and Sufferings which thou canst undergo here for they are but of short continuance Death at farthest will come and put an end to them all but the Glory and Happiness that remains for thee in Heaven that is Eternal and Everlasting and shall never never never know an end CHAP. V. Of the Efficient Cause of the Saints Happiness in Heaven namely the Free Grace of God Of the Meritorious Cause of the Saints Happiness namely the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ Of the Final Cause of the Saints Happiness namely the Glory of God Holiness the Saints great Qualification for Heaven Wicked Men unsuitable to the Work of Heaven and to the Reward of Heaven both which are Holy In Heaven there is both an Eternal Work for Saints to be Employed in and an Eternal Reward for Saints to Enjoy THat which is next to be discoursed of in the handling of this Subject of the Saints Happiness according to my propounded Method is the consideration of that Happiness in the several causes of it Now in speaking unto this head I shall discourse a little upon these three particulars The Efficient Cause of the Saints Happiness in Heaven The Meritorious Cause of that Happiness And lastly the Final Cause thereof First The Efficient Fundamental Cause of the Saints Happiness in Heaven and that is the Free Grace of God Now for this the Scripture is very full Ephes 2.4 5 c. But God who is rich in Mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us Even when we were dead in Sins and Trespasses hath quickened us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus That in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus For by Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God So in Rom. 6.23 The Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. All is from the free Grace of God And though this Happiness of the Saints be the highest that can be bestowed upon any yet is it that which is given freely What says our Lord Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom This is to act like a God to give most bountifully and yet most freely To give the highest and best Gifts and yet to give them freely and undeservedly Thus God gives himself Heaven Glory and Eternal Life freely All that he doth for his people from their first Conversion on Earth unto their Eternal Glorification in Heaven is all from his own free Grace and Good Will Their Conversion is of Grace James 1.18 Of his own good will begat he us by the Word of Truth Their Justification is of Grace Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace Their Sanctification also is of Grace Titus 2.11 12 13. The Grace of God that hath appeared unto all men teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lust we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present evil World Yea
Grace and Holiness where thy Employment shall always be in Holy and Spiritual Delights and Exercises unto all Eternity If thou hast no believing Hopes and Expectations of such a Heaven as this is certainly thou hast no Right and Title unto that Inheritance that is incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for Believers Nothing so plainly demonstrates what men are whither they are going and unto whom they belong as the daily course of their Lives and Conversation The Apostle therefore in Galat. 5.19 20. reckoning up the Works of the Flesh which are manifest As Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Drunkenness Murder and such like of the which says he I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And in 1 Corinth 6.9 10. he speaks the same thing again Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Idolaters nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And on the contrary He that doth Righteousness is of God says the Apostle 1 John 2.29 And blessed is he that doth Righteousness at all times says the Psalmist Psal 106.3 For the Grace of God that hath appeared in the Gospel having taught them to deny all ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2.12 13. Looking for the Blessed Hope and the Glorious appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ These are they and only they who according to Scripture Warrant can lay any claim unto Heaven And these may for they that are made free from Sin and are become the Servants of God they have their Eruit unto Holiness and their end shall be Everlasting Life Rom. 6.23 Wouldst thou therefore know O Christian without deluding thy own Soul whether thou art one that hast a Right and Title unto Heaven call thy self to an account what thy Works and Actions are The matter is not so difficult to be resolved it may be as thou imaginest What says the Apostle Gal. 6.7 8. He that soweth unto the Flesh shall of the Flest reap Corruption And he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting And the same Apostle tells us Rom. 8.13 If we live after the Flesh we shall die but if we through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body we shall live What now is thy way and course what is thy general carriage and practice is it earthly and vain is it sensual and wicked according to the course of the World and after the manner of the men of the World If vain and sinful Society be thy delightful Companions if wicked and ungodly ways be thy daily practice thou art not of an Heavenly Extraction nor canst thou upon Scripture grounds have any expectations of the Heavenly Glory for unto such only doth it belong who by their lives and actions declare their opposition of and contrariety unto the ways and courses of the men of this World Shew me thy Faith by thy Works says the Apostle James 2 18. Thou art one that professest to believe a Heaven and a State of blessedness to be enjoyed there and hopest thou art one that shalt be a partaker thereof hereafter shew me now thy Faith herein by thy Works and assure thy self of this That all thy Faith in and all thy Hopes of Heaven and Glory will fill thee with nothing but shame and disappointment hereafter unless they evidence themselves by Works and Actions suitable thereunto for as the Apostle says James 2.26 As the body without the Spirit is dead so all Faith in and Hope of Heaven without Works and Actions corresponding thereunto is dead also and will leave the Soul short of Heaven and Happiness Sixthly Is there such a State of Bliss and Happiness provided for and assured unto Believers in Heaven hereafter let then the consideration hereof Reconcile to them the thoughts of their own Death and moderate their sorrows for the Death of their Godly Friends and Relations First Let the consideration of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven Reconcile to a Believer the thoughts of his own Death It is no strange thing that Heathens who have only the Light of Nature to be their Instructor should not be able to overcome the Fears of Death though indeed some of them have not only expressed great Courage in contempt of but great confidence in and desire after Death though notwithstanding all their boasting we may well imagine that they speak greater things than they lived up unto much more than they died under for it is said of one of the chief of them that Eloquent Orator Cicero that a little before his Death he did ingeniously confess That those Remedies he had prepared against this Enemy Death proved he knew not how too weak and feeble to support and strengthen him in its near approach unto him And indeed it is no wonder that thus it should be with them because they were greatly in the dark as to the reality of a future State of Happiness and much more at a loss how to find the right way to attain the enjoyment thereof Nor is it any strange thing to see a wicked Man under the light of the Gospel to be afraid of Death and to lead a Life accompanied with Fears and Terrours under the thoughts of it no the wonder rather is that such a one can have any case and quietness any freedom from horrours and perplexities of Mind that he is not a Magormissabib continually every moment of his Life encompassed about with fears and terrours And indeed did he rightly understand himself and his dangerous state and condition it would be thus always with him and the greatness of his Fears and Horrours would make him go mourning all his Days But though Heathens and prophane Sinners may and have cause to be afraid of Death yet it becomes not any of the People of God who have a well grounded Hope of Heaven to be affrighted at it there being no way for them to attain unto that State of Blessedness but by Dying I have read concerning the Turks who are not only Strangers but Enemies to the Christian Religion that they say they do not think Heaven to be a place of that Bliss and Happiness as Christians do profess to believe it is because they see so many that call themselves by the Name of Christian so backward and unwilling to go to it O what a disgrace is this unto Christianity and how should it concern Christians to labour with great industry to overcome all inordinate fears of Death that they may wipe off this reproach that is cast upon the most excellent Religion in the World and that which only can enable any to Die comfortably and joyfully upon the Hopes of a future State of Happiness All a Believer's fears of
themselves and very disquieting unto others Now as to the Temptations that most afflict the People of God in this Life they are such as either come from the World and the Flesh or such as come from the Devil As for those Temptations that come from the World and the Flesh as their Numbers cannot be expressed so their Burthen cannot be born without the Assistance of Divine Grace While we are in this World we walk in the midst of Snares Temptations lie in wait for us in all our Ways attend us in all our Enjoyments follow us into all Societies keep us company in all our Solitarinesses we can scarce cast our Eyes any where but we are in danger by something or other to be drawn away from God Every Condition every Place every Duty every Mercy and every Relation administer matter for a Temptation When we behold those that are much above us then a Temptation to Envy assaults us When we behold those that are low in the World and much our Inferiours then a Temptation to Scorn and Contempt presents its self to us Hath God bless'd us in the World that we grow rich and become Men of great Estates how strong and almost invincible are our Temptations to be proud and to forget yea to deny God If God lay us low in the World O how hard is it to be Poor and not to be Discontented nor to make use of unlawful means for our Relief rather than to wait patiently God's time for the Supply of our Necessities When we are in our Health and Strength O how stupid how careless are we as to the Concerns of our Souls How few Thoughts have we of and how little Preparation do we make for our Eternal State If God deprive us of our Health and Strength and by Sickness warns us that Death is making haste towards us then the sudden Approach of that King of Terrors distracts us with such Fears and Horrors as overwhelms and sinks us into Despair so that we give up all for lost But now when by Death a Saint comes to take his leave of this World in his flight towards Heaven his Soul is escaped out of all these Dangers and Temptations all these Snares are then broken in pieces for ever For whither he is gone none of them can come after him In Heaven there 's nothing but what tends to the advancing of our Joy and the promoting our Eternal Happiness And as in Heaven Saints shall be free from the Temptations of the World so shall they be free from the Temptations of Satan the grand Enemy of their Souls and the continual Disturber of their Peace The Apostle tells us he is always going up and doum like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5 8. And because he cannot destroy the People of God nor hinder them from Heaven hereafter therefore he will do what he can to disturb and disquiet them here And Oh how doth it make a godly Man inwardly to figh and mourn that he can never set about any thing that is good but the Evil One is working against him with his Temptations either to dissuade him from doing of it or to disturb him in the doing of it filling his Mind not only with vain and foolish but with wicked and sinful thoughts that continually indispose to and distract him in it And if notwithstanding all this a godly Man will persevere and go through his Work till he hath finished what he is about then to find the Wicked One discouraging him after his Performance telling him that because of those Wandrings and Distractings which himself hath been the cause of in a great measure therefore God will not own nor accept what he hath done This certainly must needs be a great Disquietment to a gracious Heart And yet these are the daily Temptations and Discouragements that a godly Man is striving with and contending against by reason of that Evil One. This if any thing will bring a Saint upon his knees and make him with the Apostle to pray again and again yea to besiege Heaven day and night with Prayers and Tears that he may be delivered from that cruel and bloudy Hell-hound and from all his wicked Solicitations Well be patient O all ye Tempted holy Souls for though the Temptations you meet with be so black and horrid that nothing can match them but the Blackness of Hell it self from whence at first they came though you are at present engaged in a very unequal Match for what can Flesh and Blood do to contend with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in high Places Yet remember stronger is he that is in you than he that is in the World And in this hour of your Temptation and Contest with the Powers of Darkness there are these Two Things among others that may comfort you the one is Let the Temptations be as black and dismal as Hell can make them yet if a godly Man yields not his consent to them they are none of his Sins nor shall they be charged upon him as such The other is this That the God of Peace will shortly tread Satan under his feet nay he himself shall shortly trample him under his own feet The Time is hastning apace and it cannot be long before Death will come in to thy relief and set thee beyond the reach of all his Temptations It is true while we are in the Wilderness of this World the Devil will never let us be quiet but will be continually casting his fiery darts at us following us with one Temptation after another and when at any time in the strength of our great Lord we have worsted him in one Temptation yet are we sure to be vexed by him in some other But yet be not discouraged O Believing Soul notwithstanding all the Assaults of this Evil One But maintain thy Conflict keep thy Ground yield not basely and cowardly unto any of his Temptations but continue to resist him stedfastly in the Faith for the Time of thy wrestling and contending with him cannot last longer than thy short and transitory Life and remember for thy Support that as now thou neither standest nor fightest in thine own strength but in the strength of another so certainly shalt thou in that strength overcome yea obtain an everlasting Conquest over all Satan's Temptations The Time of thy Death will be the Time of thy eternal Deliverance not only from all his Temptations but from all his Malice and Envy that put him upon those Temptations O what a Happiness will this be And O how greatly should a Believer long for the accomplishment of it for then shall the Devil be as unlikely to tempt as our Hearts to close with his Temptations and both alike impossible Thirdly In Heaven Saints shall enjoy a perfect Freedom from all Sin There is no Evil in the World the People of God complain of with greater Grief and Sorrow than they do of Sin this makes
perfect Lineaments of Christ will then be drawn upon it A weak and small measure of Grace which is the highest attainment that any Saint reacheth to here compared with what we shall do hereafter and is also the Image of Christ upon the Soul of a Believer yet even this imperfect Grace and Holiness makes the Soul to shine gloriously here how much more then shall Glory that is the Perfection of Grace and the perfecting of the Image of Christ upon the Soul make the Soul of a believer to exceed in Glory Not that the Saints in Heaven shall be continually receiving new additions to their Grace or Glory and so be made more and more like unto Christ by the Vision they shall there have of him No this is a Saint's Work and Employment here on Earth whilst he beholds Christ only by an eye of Faith in the Glass of Duties and Ordinances thus to be changed into his Image from Glory to Glory But this Sight of Christ shall vanish away in Heaven and the Saints shall have an immediate Vision of God and Christ and their Souls shall thereby be changed into an exact and perfect conformity unto the Image of Christ It shall not then be from Glory to Glory from one degree of Grace to another as it is now but Grace and Holiness in Heaven shall be always in them in its height and perfection The Souls of Believers upon their entrance into that Holy Place become perfectly and compleatly glorious having the perfection of Grace and Holiness in them without the least remainders of Sin and Corruption which in this World the holiest Persons are not totally free'd from But to speak a little more particularly concerning the Happiness of the Souls of Believers in Heaven and here First In Heaven the Vnderstandings of the Saints shall be enlarged Knowledge is a necessary Engredient unto the Soul's Happiness in Heaven and the more enlarged the Vnderstanding of a Saint is the greater is his Happiness An ignorant Soul cannot be a happy Soul neither on Earth nor in Heaven Ignorant Persons are look'd upon with pity and contempt That the Soul be without knowledge says the Wise Man is not nor cannot be good Prov. 19.2 Knowledge is a great Ornament in any Man but much more in a Christian It is a great Commendation to have an insight into the Secrets of Nature to be skill'd in Arts and Sciences to understand Logick Philosophy Metaphysicks and the like but the Excellency of Knowledge lies not in these things but in the knowledge of the Highest and Chief Good of all and that is God and Christ This the Scripture calls the Excellency of Knowledge So says the Apostle Philip. 3.9 I count all things but Loss and Dung for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord and John 17.2 This is Life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This is excellent Knowledge indeed to know God to know the Lord Jesus Christ to understand the wonderful Work of Man's Redemption to be acquainted with the Mysteries of Divine Providence This is a knowledge wherein Angels may delightfully busie themselves in the contemplation of and not stoop below the Excellency and Dignity of their Natures Something of Light and Knowledge they have into these Objects now But alas it 's little we know of God of Christ of the Mysteries of Redemption and Providence to what shall be known in Heaven Some of these blessed Objects are far above out of our sight others are far above the reach of our Vnderstanding to comprehend the depth of those Mysteries of Wisdom Grace and Love that are contained in them But in Heaven our Capacities shall be enlarged to take in the Knowledge of these high and glorious Objects In Heaven God will take off the Vail from his Face that we may see him Face to Face and not only so but will strengthen us that we may be able to look upon and behold his Glory and Excellency which otherwise would astonish and confound us There shall we see the blessed Lord Jesus who for our sakes was for a little while made a little lower than the Angels crowned with Glory and Honour All the wonderful and astonishing Mysteries of our Redemption shall be there unfolded to us There it is that we shall see all the glorious Attributes of God Wisdom Justice Mercy Holiness Faithfulness and Truth sweetly reconciled and fully satisfied and contented in the contrivance of our Redemption by Jesus Christ There we shall with great satisfaction understand the deep and obscure Mysteries of Religion which here the most profound Scholars were never able fully to comprehend There shall the most dark and difficult Passages of that divine and heavenly Book the Scriptures be made clear and plain to our Understanding There it shall be given us to discern how exquisitely the several parts of Holy Writ were by the All wise and Fore seeing Author of them God fitted and adapted unto the several Times Places Persons and Occurrences for which they were intended chiefly to be used We shall then plainly see not only a Reconcileableness but a Friendship and perfect Harmony between those Sacred Texts in Holy Writ that seem'd most to jarr and be at greatest variance Yea there shall we discover not only the meaning of the most dark and obscure Passages of that Sacred Book but how fit it was that they should be so together with the infinite Wisdom of the great God that caused them to be written so obscurely There it is that those Riddles of Divine Providence shall be expounded and laid open before us which have made not only wicked Men to deny but tempted even good Men themselves sometimes to call in question the infinite and unerring Wisdom of the great God in his Government of the World when they behold wicked and ungodly Men to prosper grow rich and great having all their Hearts can wish whilst upright and righteous ones are continually exposed to Poverty Reproach and Contempt There shall we be fully convinced that all these seeming Irregularities are not only consistent with God's Justice and Goodness but are the wise productions of them And though the Belief hereof doth to wise and understanding Persons seem to be a piece of great Self-denial yet when we come to Heaven it will appear to be as highly rational as now we find it to be hard and difficult Man of himself is no fit Judge of the Providence of God at any time but especially not in this World because he cannot see the whole of his Providential Workings at once His Days as Job speaks are but as a shadow upon Earth and they fly away So that he can see but little of what God is doing But when we come to Heaven the whole Conduct of God's Providence in the Administration of Affairs in the World shall be laid open to our view Then shall all the Revolutions and Occurrences of Empires States